Site Navigation

Site Mobile Navigation

A Look at the Self-Employed

Conventional wisdom over the last few years has been that, with staff jobs scarce, more of America’s relentlessly entrepreneurial workers have turned to self-employment. The numbers don’t quite bear that out.

Here’s a chart, using data from today’s jobs report, showing the percent of employed workers who are self-employed, regardless of whether they are incorporated:

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

The numbers are not seasonally adjusted, which accounts for some of the noise. But even so, the self-employment rate had generally been trending downward over the last year, and has only recently ticked upward.

Why might the self-employment rate have dropped in the couple of years since the financial crisis?

While it’s true that fewer payroll jobs might make self-employment seem more attractive, now is an especially hard time for workers to go it alone. Demand for goods and services is still relatively weak, creating a bad environment for any business, especially a new and thinly staffed one.

Perhaps more important, many small businesses are still having trouble getting financing, which makes it harder for start-ups to get off the ground.

The Affordable Care Act imposes economic burdens that are the equivalent of taxes, an economist writes. Read more…

About

Economics doesn't have to be complicated. It is the study of our lives — our jobs, our homes, our families and the little decisions we face every day. Here at Economix, journalists and economists analyze the news and use economics as a framework for thinking about the world. We welcome feedback, at economix@nytimes.com.